B2B Ecommerce Platforms Compared for 2026
How B2B ecommerce platforms differ on accounts, pricing rules, ERP links and catalogue scale, and what to ask before choosing.
Key takeaways
- 01B2B stores need company accounts, negotiated prices, approval flows and ERP links, which consumer checkouts often lack.
- 02Compare platforms on the features your buyers use, not on the homepage demo.
- 03Check licensing, hosting and support terms before you compare build costs.
- 04Test your hardest workflow, such as quoting or a large order, on each shortlisted platform.
What makes B2B different
A B2B store sells to businesses. Buyers need company accounts with several users, customer-specific prices, minimum order rules, quotes, approval steps and invoices on account. A consumer checkout often does not handle these, so the platform choice matters more than the theme.
What to compare
- Accounts and roles: can you set up companies, users, roles and approval steps without custom code?
- Pricing rules: customer groups, negotiated prices, volume tiers and tax rules by buyer.
- Catalogue scale: how the platform handles large catalogues, complex attributes and frequent price changes.
- ERP and CRM links: how orders, invoices, stock and customer data move to your back office.
- Quoting and reorders: whether buyers can request quotes and reorder from past orders.
- Licensing and hosting: what the licence covers, who hosts the store and how upgrades are handled.
Platform families
Most businesses shortlist from a few families: open-source or self-hosted platforms with a large extension ecosystem, hosted SaaS platforms with built-in B2B features, and enterprise platforms built for very large catalogues. Each family trades control against speed of setup and ongoing cost.
Which one fits depends on your catalogue, your ERP, your team and how much you want to host and maintain yourself. Our Magento vs Shopify comparison covers the trade-offs for two common options.
A simple evaluation method
- Write your five hardest buyer workflows, such as a negotiated price list for a new customer, a bulk order with a split delivery, and an approval step above a spend limit.
- Shortlist three platforms and ask each vendor, or a partner, to show those workflows working.
- Score each one on fit, effort to build, ongoing cost and support.
- Run a small pilot with real data before you commit.
Questions to ask
- Which B2B features are built in, and which need extensions or custom code?
- How are customer-specific prices stored and updated?
- How does the platform link to our ERP, and who maintains that link?
- What does the licence include, and what changes after the first year?
- How do upgrades work, and how long do they take?
Red flags
- Demos that show only the consumer checkout.
- B2B features described as "included" that turn out to need paid extensions.
- No plan for ERP links or price updates.
How we help
We build and support B2B stores on several platforms, and we start with the workflows your buyers use. We agree the scope and the handover in writing, and we give a fixed quote after a free call.
Frequently asked questions
Is a B2B store the same as a wholesale store? Often they overlap, but B2B stores usually add company accounts, approval steps and ERP links that a simple wholesale shop may not need.
Should we replace our ERP first? Not necessarily. Many businesses keep their ERP and connect it to the store. Decide that after you have scoped the integrations.
